Collapsible tow bar

ABSTRACT

A collapsible tow bar for a vehicle is disclosed herein and generally comprises a hollow bumper having the collapsible tow bar secured thereto and stored therein when not in use. The bumper has a central opening which is selectively closed by a cover element. First and second spaced apart support rods are secured to the bumper within the bumper adjacent the opposite ends thereof. First and second tow bar members are rotatably and slidably secured at one of their ends to the first and second support rods respectively. The first and second tow bar members may be slidably moved inwardly on the support rods to permit their other ends to be extended outwardly of the central opening in the bumper. The other ends of the first and second tow bar members are adapted to be secured together and are adapted to have a tongue member detachably secured thereto.

United States Patent [191 Eger [ Nov. 27, 1973 COLLAPSIBLE TOW BAR [76]Inventor: Mathias Eger, 3418 5th Ave. South,

Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501 22 Filed: June 20, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 264,536

[52] US. Cl 293/69, 280/491 D, 280/500 [51] Int. Cl B6011 1/16 [58]Field of Search .Q 280/491, 500; 293/69 R [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,480,296 11/1969 Starling 293/69 R X 3,147,027 9/1964Bronleewe 280/491 D R 2,995,386 8/1961 Peterson 280/491 D R 3,449,8509/1948 Huhle 293/69 R Primary ExaminerLeo F riaglia AssistantExaminerRandall A. Schrecengost Attorney-Zarley et a1.

[57] ABSTRACT A collapsible tow bar for a vehicle is disclosed hereinand generally comprises a hollow bumper having the collapsible tow barsecured thereto and stored therein when not in use. The bumper has acentral opening which is selectively closed by a cover element. Firstand second spaced apart support rods are secured to the bumper withinthe bumper adjacent the opposite ends thereof. First and second tow barmembers are rotatably and slidably secured at one of their ends to thefirst and second support rods respectively. The first and second tow barmembers may be slidably moved inwardly on the support rods to permittheir other ends to be extended outwardly of the central opening in thebumper. The other ends of the first and second tow bar members areadapted to be secured together and are adapted to have a tongue memberdetachably secured thereto.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures COLLAPSIBLE TOW BAR Tow bars are commonlyused to tow one vehicle behind the other. The conventional tow barsgenerally comprise a V-shaped member which is pivotally connected at itsends to the front bumper of the vehicle to be towed. A tongue element isordinarily secured to the apex of the V-shaped member and isse'cured tothe towing vehicle when the towing operation is to be performed. Whenthe towed vehicle is-not being towed, a problem is encountered instoring the tow bar secured to the front bumper thereof. The tow barmusteither be removed from the front bumper or must be secured in an uprightposition so that it does not interfere with the normal operation of thevehicle.

Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide animproved tow bar.

A further object of this invention is to provide a collapsible tow bar.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a collapsible towbar which is stored within a hollow bumper when not in use.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a collapsible towbar which occupies a minimum of space when not in use.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a collapsible towbar which is quickly assembled and disassembled.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a collapsible towbar which is economical of manufacture, durable in use and refined inappearance.

These arid other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art. I

This invention consists in the construction, arrangements, andcombination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objectscontemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth,specifically pointed out The bumper 14 is secured to the truck 10 bymeans 0 the bumper brackets 34 and 36.

A pair of ears 38 and 40 are secured to the inside surface of front wall20 and extend rearwardly therefrom as illustrated in the drawings. Asupport rod 42 is secured to and extends between the ears 38 and 40 asillustrated in FIG. 3. Likewise, a pair of ears 38' and 40' are securedto the inside surface of back wall 20 and extend forwardly therefrom asillustrated in FIG. 2. A support rod 42' is secured to and extendsbetween the cars 38' and 40'.

Collar 44 is rotatably and slidably mounted on the rod 42 and has oneend of a tow bar member 46 pivotally secured thereto. A collar 44' isrotatably and slidably mounted on the support rod 42' and has one end ofa tow bar member 48 pivotally secured thereto as illustrated in FIG.7.'Tow bar member 46 has a hollow tubular member 50 secured to the otherend thereof which has an opening 52 formed therein. The opening 54extending through the tubular member 50 may be either rectangular orsquare depending upon the configuration of the tongue member to bedescribed hereinafter. Bar 56 is secured to the tubular member 50 andextends laterally therefrom and has an opening 58 provided therein. Towbar member 46 has a tapered rearward end 60 having an opening 62extending therethrough. Tubular portion 50 is provided with a smallchannel portion 64 which is adapted to receive the extreme rearward endof the tapered portion 60 as illustrated in FIG. 7. The numeral 66refers to a tongue ele- I ment adapted to be received by the tubularmember 50 in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in which:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a hollow bumper mounted on thefront end of a mobile trailer or the like: FIG. 2 is a fragmentarysectional view seen along lines 2-2 of FIG. 1:

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary rear view of the bumper and tow bar therein withportions thereofcut away to more fully illustrate the invention:

FIG. 4 is a sectional view seen along lines 4-4 of FIG. 3:

FIG. 5 is a top view of the bumper with the collapsible tow barextending therefrom:

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view seen along lines 6-6 ofFIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a top view of the tow bar in its assembled condition.

The numeral 10 refers generally to a pickup truck or the like having thedevice of this invention mounted at the rear end thereof. Thecollapsible tow bar of this invention is referred to generally by thereference numeral 12 while the reference numeral 14 refers to the hollowbumper in which the tow bar is stored when not in use. For purposes ofdescription, the bumper 14 will be described as having ends 16 and 18,front wall 20, rear wall 22, bottom 24 and top 26. Bumper 14 has acentral opening 28 formed in rear wall 22 and a central opening 30formed in top 26 which communicates with the central opening 28.Thecentral openings 28 and 30 are selectively closed by a cover element 32which is pivotally connected at its upper forward end to top 26.

portion 68 at its rearward end.

Assuming that the tow bar is in the collapsed position illustrated inFIGS. 2 and 3, the normal method of assembling the same is as follows.The cover element 32 is moved from its closed position to its openposition. The tow bar member 46 is then grasped and slidably moved tothe right as viewed in FIG. 3 until the tubular member 50 is adjacentthe right side of the central openings 28 and 30. The tow bar member 46is then ro tated with respect to the support rod 42 while pivoting thesame with respect to the collar 44 so that the tow bar member 46 may beextended rearwardly from the bumper. The tow bar member 48 is also movedfrom its stored position within the bumper so that it may be extendedrearwardly as illustrated in FIG. 7 for detachable connection to the towbar member 46. A bolt is extended through the ear 56 and through theopening 62 in the tow bar member 48 to provide a rigid connectionbetween the tow bar members 46 and 48. As previously mentioned, theextreme rearward end of the tapered portion 60 of the tow bar member 48is received by the channel 64 to further stabilize the connection. Thetongue member 66 is then removed from the interior of the bumper if ithad not already been removed and slidably inserted through the tubularmember 50 until it is positioned in the desired position. A bolt 72 isthen extended through the opening 52in the tubular member 50 and throughone of the openings 74 formed in the tongue member 66 to effect theconnection therebetween. The hitch portion 68 is then secured to thevehicle or. implement tobe towed. The cover element 32 may be positionedas illustrated in FIG. 6 during the periods that the tow bar is beingused. The tow bar 12 is free to rotate or pivot about the support rods42 and 42' as the tow bar is being used. When it is desired to store thetow bar, it is simply necessary to re move the tongue member 66 from'thetubular member 50, disconnect the tow bar members 46 and 48' andreposition the same within the bumper 12. Thus it can be seen that anovel collapsible tow bar has been provided which may be readily movedfrom a stored position to an operative position. While it is preferredthat the collapsible tow bar 12 be employed with a hollow bumper, itshould be understood that the collapsible tow bar hollow bumper. Whilethe drawings disclose a pair of support rods 42 and 42', it should beunderstood that a single rod 42 could extend between the ears 38 and38'. However, the preferred embodiment is that which is shown in thedrawings. Thus it can be seen that the invention accomplishes at leastall of its stated objectives.

I claim: l. A collapsible tow bar for vehicle comprising, a supportmeans operatively secured to the vehicle, a first tow bar memberpivotally secured at one end thereof to said support means, a second towbar member pivotally secured at one end thereof to said support means,said first and second tow bar members being movable from a storedposition to a towing position wherein their other ends can beoperatively connected, and means at said other ends for connection toanother vehicle, said support means comprising first and second spacedapart supports operatively secured to said vehicle, said first andsecond supports each comprising a horizontally disposed rod, said towbar members slidably and rotatably mounted on said rods, an enlongatedhollow bumper secured to the vehicle, said bumper having front and backwall portions, said first and second supports secured at the interiorsurface of said back wall portion, said first and second tow bar membersstored within said bumper generally parallel to the longitudinal axis ofsaid bumper, said bumper having a central operning formed in its backwall portion to permit the selective rearward extension of said tow barmembers therethrough.

2. The tow bar of claim 1 wherein a cover element is could be used bysupporting structures other than a 10 secured to said bumper forremovably closing said central opening. I

3. The tow bar of claim 1 wherein said means at the other ends of saidtow bar members comprises a tongue means selectively secured thereto,said tongue means being stored within said bumper when the tow bar isbeing stored.

4. A collapsible tow bar for a vehicle comprising, a support meansoperatively secured to the vehicle, a first tow bar member pivotallysecured at one end thereof to said support means, a second tow barmember pivotally secured at one end thereof to said support means, saidfirst and second tow bar members being movable from a stored position toa towing position wherein their other ends can be operatively connected,and means at said other ends for connection to another vehicle, saidsupport means comprising first and second spaced apart supportsoperatively secured to said vehicle, said first and second supports eachcomprising a horizontally disposed rod, said tow bar members slidablyand rotatably mounted on said rods, an elongated bumper secured to thevehicle, said bumper having a compartment formed therein, said supportssecured to said bumper within siad compartment, said tow bar membersstored in said compartment at times.

1. A collapsible tow bar for vehicle comprising, a support meansoperatively secured to the vehicle, a first tow bar member pivotallysecured at one end thereof to said support means, a second tow barmember pivotally secured at one end thereof to said support means, saidfirst and second tow bar members being movable from a stored position toa towing position wherein their other ends can be operatively connected,and means at said other ends for connection to another vehicle, saidsupport means comprising first and second spaced apart supportsoperatively secured to said vehicle, said first and second supports eachcomprising a horizontally disposed rod, said tow bar members slidablyand rotatably mounted on said rods, an enlongated hollow bumper securedto the vehicle, said bumper having front and back wall portions, saidfirst and second supports secured at the interior surface of said backwall portion, said first and second tow bar members stored within saidbumper generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of said bumper, saidbumper having a central operning formed in its back wall portion topermit the selective rearward extension of said tow bar memberstherethrough.
 2. The tow bar of claim 1 wherein a cover element issecured to said bumper for removably closing said central opening. 3.The tow bar of claim 1 wherein said means at the other ends of said towbar members comprises a tongue means selectively secured thereto, saidtongue means being stored within said bumper when the tow bar is beingstored.
 4. A collapsible tow bar for a vehicle comprising, a supportmeans operatively secured to the vehicle, a first tow bar memberpivotally secured at one end thereof to said support means, a second towbar member pivotally secured at one end thereof to said support means,said first and second tow bar members being movable from a storedposition to a towing position wherein their other ends can beoperatively connected, and means at said other ends for connection toanother vehicle, said support means comprising first and second spacedapart supports operatively secured to said vehicle, said first andsecond supports each comprising a horizontally disposed rod, said towbar members slidably and rotatably mounted on said rods, an elongatedbumper secured to the vehicle, said bumper having a compartment formedtherein, said supports secured to said bumper within siad compartment,said tow bar members stored in said compartment at times.